NEWSMAKER-Same charm, bolder plans set to win Bachelet a second term in Chile

November 17, 2013|Reuters

By Alexandra Ulmer

SANTIAGO, Nov 17 (Reuters) - When Michelle Bachelet becamehealth minister under President Ricardo Lagos in 2000, heassigned her a daunting task: end the long lines in Chile'ssaturated primary health care centers within three months.

Bachelet struggled to meet the deadline. Yet, when Lagosvisited a medical center to survey the situation, a womanwhisked him aside to praise Bachelet and beg him to keep her inhis cabinet.

"I can't remember ever being told during my presidency notto get rid of a minister," a chuckling Lagos, who governed from2000 to 2006, told Reuters in an interview. "Within a shortperiod of time, Bachelet managed to forge a relationship withpeople. She's seen by some as the mother of all Chileans."

The pediatrician-turned-politician's efforts to improvehealth care and her warm style paved the way for her to succeedLagos in office as Chile's first female president from 2006 to2010.

And that same charisma, coupled with more ambitious policiesto bridge steep economic inequality, is poised to hand the62-year-old center-left politician a second term in the LaMoneda palace.

Bachelet fell just short of the 50 percent of votes neededfor victory in the first round of Chile's presidential electionon Sunday. Still, she won more than 46 percent support and isseen handily beating her main rival, the conservative EvelynMatthei, in a runoff between the two on Dec. 15.

Matthei won about 25 percent of the vote on Sunday.

A victim of torture under the dictatorship of GeneralAugusto Pinochet and a single mother of three, Bachelet was oneof conservative Chile's most unusual presidents since its returnto democracy in 1990.

She is beloved by many lower and middle class womendisenchanted with the political elite in Chile, which boastsstability and growth but also has the worst income inequality ofthe 34 counties in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment.

Critics say her popularity is too anchored in herpersonality, and many leftists disillusioned with her moderaterecord of reform while in power the first time are skeptical ofher fresh batch of promises.

She vows a reform blitz that includes hiking corporate taxesto fund an education overhaul, overhauling the Pinochet-eraconstitution and legalizing abortion in some circumstances.

Many who feel marginalized from what has been called LatinAmerica's shining economic success story are pinning their hopeson her.

Far from the gleaming skyscrapers and polished parks ofaffluent eastern Santiago, euphoric supporters in the low-incomeneighborhood of Cerrillos greeted Bachelet last week.

They fervently waved flags emblazed with a big, simple 'M'as Bachelet rode in to the tune of her jingle 'Chile de todos,'or 'Chile for all', blasting from nearby speakers.

"She's a fighter. It's what I value most," said JosefinaOsorio, a 32-year old law student, shouting above the cheers."She's back with new ideas."

Barred constitutionally from running for re-election at theend of her first term, Bachelet moved to New York to head U.N.Women, an agency aimed at improving the lives of women andgirls.

Displaying her common touch, Bachelet said in an interviewthat one of the things she most enjoyed about living away fromChile was the freedom to go food shopping in Bermuda shorts.During the same program she danced with a popular televisionhost to the rhythm of cumbia, a Colombian music genre popularthroughout Latin America.

"She puts forth a social ideology rather than a politicalone," said political analyst Guillermo Holzmann. "There's nological or theoretical explanation (for her appeal)."

TORTURE, EXILE, MEDICINE

Some of her appeal stems from her life story.

As a young leftist, Bachelet's life was deeply marked by thecoup that overthrew President Salvador Allende in 1973 andushered in the brutal 17-year Pinochet rule.

Bachelet's father, an air force general loyal to Allende,was arrested the day of the coup and later tortured byPinochet's agents. He died in prison in 1974.

The following year, two secret police officers burst intothe flat where Bachelet and her mother lived. The women werewhisked away blindfolded to Villa Grimaldi, an infamousmilitary-run center on the outskirts of Santiago where they weretortured.

Once freed, she and her mother fled to Australia and lateron to what was then East Germany. She returned to Chile in 1979.

In an astounding twist, Matthei is also the daughter of anair force general - but one who went on to be part of thePinochet junta.

The two generals were friends in the years before the coupand their daughters played together as kids. Bachelet said shespontaneously called former general Fernando Matthei "uncle," acommon term of endearment in Chile, when she saw him againrecently.